SFA Members Take Industry’s
Case to Capitol Hill
SFA members from Ohio following
meeting with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
With critical decisions about to be made involving labor
legislation, food safety, nutrition, and energy policy, more
than 30 SFA members met personally with dozens of lawmakers
and key staff members during SFA's annual Day in DC Spring
Summit, May 13-15 in Washington, DC.
“We told them about the impact that their actions on
these crucial issues would have on our companies and our employees
– on jobs in their districts and states,” Richard
Rudolph, Rudolph Foods Company, Inc., Lima, OH said following
his schedule of Congressional meetings May 14 that concluded
with a lively, but thoughtful, session with Sen. Sherrod Brown
(D-OH).
“We were able to communicate the important needs of
our industry,” Rudolph said. “In this case, we
visited with someone (Brown) who doesn’t see everything
from our perspective, but we were able to explain that our
businesses create jobs in his state.”
That meeting, held in Brown’s Senate office on Capitol
Hill, also included Mark Singleton, Rudolph Foods; Bill McCabe,
Melissa Shearer, and Scott Smith, Shearer’s Foods, Inc.,
Brewster, OH; Jeff Higgins, Savor Seasonings, LLC, Batavia,
OH; and Nick Chilton and Dan McGrady, Wyandot, Inc., Marion
OH, as well as Joseplh Schultz, Brown’s legislative
assistant. (continued, please click HERE.)
Click HERE for the photo archive.
SNAXPO 2009 a Great Success!
Nearly 1,000 snack food industry executives from across the
nation and around the world converged on the JW Marriott,
Grande Lakes, in Orlando, FL. for SNAXPO 2009, March
29-April 1.
Highlights included presentation of SFA's Circle of Honor
Award to Michael Warehime, Chairman, Snyder's of Hanover,
the annual State of the Industry report from Information Resources,
Inc., a fascinating presentation on consumer eating trends
from the NPD Group, insight into the current U.S. economic
crisis from a top business economist, and many other important
educational sessions. U.S. Ambassador Nicolas Burns discussed
the economic challenges facing our nation.
More than 100 exhibitors filled the SNAXPO show
floor offering new ideas, products and services for snack
food company decision makers seeking to build their businesses.
On March 29, there was a special Latin American program presented
in Spanish for the many executives attending from south of
the border. Some 31 countries were represented at SNAXPO this
year. SNAXPO 2010 will be held March 3-6 at the Fort
Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, TX.
SNAXPO Headlines:
SFA Mobilizes
Against Card Check Bill
The Snack Food Association has mobilized its resources,
and its membership, to help defeat the misnamed “Employee
Free Choice Act” (EFCA), which would prove devastating
to many companies in the snack food industry in addition to
threatening the nation’s economic competitiveness under
the guise of protecting free choice.
The Employee Free ("Forced") Choice Act (EFCA)
was introduced in both the House of Representatives (H.R.
1409) and the Senate (S. 560) March 9. “Union
leaders want to change the rules of how unions are recognized
by encouraging legislators to do away with the proven practice
of holding free and fair secret ballot elections,” explained
SFA President & CEO Jim McCarthy. “This legislation
would eliminate the secret ballot voting process currently
in place, by law, to form unions.”
SFA, as well as many other industry organizations, strongly
oppose the EFCA and is asking all SFA members to urge their
Representatives and Senators to oppose these bills. Click
HERE to contact your
Representative and Senators to voice opposition to the EFCA.
Please encourage your Members of Congress to vote NO
on EFCA and vote no on Cloture in the Senate. You may also
click HERE
for the latest news about EFCA.
Defeating this legislation is a top SFA priority. Please
contact Jim McCarthy ,
SFA President & CEO (703-836-4500 ext. 201) with any questions.
“This legislation would undermine worker privacy and
open the door to government control of wages and benefits
in unionized workplaces,” warned McCarthy. “At
a time when our economy is in serious trouble, it makes no
sense to put additional burdens on those businesses that are
still managing to stay productive and provide jobs.”
(Continued, please click HERE)
SFA Management
Workshop Helps Industry Pros Cope With Change
Snack food industry sales, marketing manufacturing
executives gathered in Chantilly, VA, near Washington,
DC, September 14-16 for SFA’s 2008 Management
Workshop where they honed their professional skills
in their quest to help their companies cope with
today’s business challenges.
They heard incoming SFA Chairman Terry McDaniel,
President & CEO, The Inventure Group, challenge
the industry to effectively respond to changes
facing consumers. Pointing out that SFA’s
new State of the Industry Report discusses consumers’
preferences for healthier options, he said, “If
you are just producing traditional indulgent snacks,
you might want to reconsider.”
(Continued, please click HERE.)
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Terry McDaniel (left), incoming SFA Chairman,
and current |
SFA Acrylamide Conference Huge
Success.
SFA's special conference on acrylamide, held Dec. 2
and 3, 2008 at Ohio State University, drew 77 participants
including SFA Chairman Daryl Thomas, Herr's Quality
Foods; Second Vice Chairman of the Board Blake Thompson,
Lance, Inc.; SFA President & CEO Jim McCarthy; SFA
Vice President, Chris Clark, and SFA Director of Regulatory
& Technical Affairs Christopher Melchert.
Speakers included experts from Frito-Lay and Heat and
Control, Inc. among others. For more information, please
contact Chris Clark
at 703-836-4500, ext. 201.
Call for Circle of Honor Nominations
The prestigious Circle of Honor Award, which recognizes
the achievements of snack food industry executives who
have been leaders in their companies and the association,
will be presented at SNAXPO 2009 on March 30 in Orlando,
FL.
SFA member companies are asked to select one nominee
for consideration and to submit that name no later than
August 25, 2008. The nominee can be either a domestic
or international, business or associate member of SFA,
either living or deceased. To be eligible, the nominee
should have contributed to the development and growth
of his/her company and the growth of the association
and industry, either in the U.S. or abroad.
Previous winners were:
2007 — Bill Mann & Bill Huggins, Pretzels,
Inc., Business Member
2005 — Michael Rice, Utz Quality Foods, Inc.,
Business Member
2003 — Warren Brown, Wyandot, Inc., Business Member
2001 -- John Rudolph, Rudolph Foods Co., Inc., Business
Member
1999 — Les Mapp, Mike-sell’s Potato Chip
Co., Business Member; John Kelly, Kelley Perry, Associate
Member; Heinz Flessner, Bahisen, International Member
1998 — Leonard Japp, Sr., Jays Foods, Business
Member; Miles Willard, Miles Willard Technologies, Associate
Member; Ryuichi Ishida, Ishida Co. Ltd., International
Member; Dr. Wilbur Gould, Lifetime Achievement
1997 — James S. Herr, Herr Foods Inc., Business
Member; Clark K. Benson, Heat and Control, Inc., Associate
Member
1996 — Harvey F. Noss, Founder, SFA, Business
Member; William H. Bryce, Jr., Bryce Corp., Associate
Member
1995 — Sloan Bashinsky, Golden Flake Snack Foods,
Business Member; Daniel E. Woodman, Woodman Company,
Associate Member
1994 — Herman W. Lay, Frito-Lay, Inc., Business
Member; J. Erskine love, Jr., Printpack Inc., Associate
Member
For a nomination form, please click HERE.
For more information, please contact Liz
Wells at 703-836-4500, ext. 202.
SFA Cosponsors
Food Before Fuel Campaign
June 18, 2008 – The Food Before Fuel Campaign
– a partnership of environmental, retail, hunger,
Hispanic and food industry groups, including the Snack
Food Association, has launched a cooperative effort
urging Congress to revisit the nation’s food-to-fuel
policies, a key factor in the growing global food crisis.
As part of the campaign, SFA Chairman Daryl Thomas,
Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Herr
Foods, Inc., Nottingham, PA, and President & CEO
Jim McCarthy participated in a media conference call
June 18 to discuss the urgent need for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency to revisit food-to-fuel mandates given
recent flooding in the Midwest and $8 per bushel corn.
Congressional policies require the conversion of more
than one-third of all U.S. corn to ethanol, with additional
subsidies and tariffs further promoting the diversion
of food to fuel. Food policy experts broadly agree that
these policies have contributed to record food price
inflation, and the International Monetary Fund reports
that U.S. food-to-fuel policy is responsible for more
than 30% of food price inflation globally.
According to the campaign’s statement of principles,
members will encourage policymakers to “revisit
and restructure policies that have increased our reliance
on food as an energy source, and to carefully address
how to develop alternative fuels that do not pit our
energy needs against affordable food and environmental
sustainability.”
During the media conference call, Thomas, McCarthy
and others stressed that June’s flooding in the
Midwest will increase corn and other commodity prices
which are already skyrocketing because of diversion
to ethanol and biodiesel.
For details about the Food Before Fuel Campaign, including
a petition urging Congressional action, please click
here.
SFA Urges
Congress to Reconsider Food-to-Fuel Policies
WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 15, 2008 –
In light of dramatic increases in food prices
and the environmental costs of fuels derived from
food crops, Congress should revisit federal food-to-fuel
mandates and subsidies, a top official of a Pennsylvania-based
snack foods company told Congress today.
“Although many factors are contributing
to the sharp increase in food prices, the only
factor affecting food and feed prices that is
under the control of Congress is federal food-to
fuel mandates and subsidies diverting food into
fuel production,” Daryl Thomas, senior vice
president, sales and marketing, for Herr Foods,
Inc., Nottingham, PA, told the House Small Business
Committee during a hearing on the impact of food
prices on small business. Thomas is chairman of
the Snack Food Association (SFA).
(Continued, Please click HERE.) |
Daryl Thomas, senior vice president, sales
and marketing for Herr Foods, Inc., testifies
at Congress for SFA. |
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